i don’t get it.
that “too close for comfort” thing is featured on the official website of these cuddle-freaks as if it were a good recommendation of the pastime. have they even read the article? if not, i can briefly tell them what it is all about: this is a sarcastic criticism of your silliness, people. this is an anti-advert. remove it from your website or it’ll scare off your potential cuddle-buddies.

Ever heard of “Quiet Parties”? I think that’d make a good strip.
There’s also the Remote Lounge where there’s a whole bunch of webcams in a club. If you see someone cute you can pick up the phone and start talking to them.

Quote:
…since the state of arousal is natural for us human beings, it’s no surprise that erections sometimes do occur…. At a Cuddle Party, erections become Mother Nature’s way of giving us the thumbs-up sign. Nothing’s wrong. Nothing’s dirty. Nothing’s suspect. And as long as you’re not dry humping anyone (Rule #7), it’s completely okay. Really.

:shock:

So erections are A.O.K.! Sign me up! Funny thing, it doesn’t specify that the erections have to stay inside your pants. Hmmm. :twisted:

Quote:
…since the state of arousal is natural for us human beings, it’s no surprise that erections sometimes do occur…. At a Cuddle Party, erections become Mother Nature’s way of giving us the thumbs-up sign. Nothing’s wrong. Nothing’s dirty. Nothing’s suspect. And as long as you’re not dry humping anyone (Rule #7), it’s completely okay. Really.

:shock:

So erections are A.O.K.! Sign me up! Funny thing, it doesn’t specify that the erections have to stay inside your pants. Hmmm. :twisted:

Holly wrote:
Saw the thing on cuddle parties not too long ago on an episode of Penn & Teller’s Bullshit. Quite freaky.

If you go to the Cuddle Party website, they list all the media in which they’ve been featured. There’s no mention of the Bullshit episode, despite the fact that they were featured rather prominently there. Funny, that… ;)

Holly wrote:
Saw the thing on cuddle parties not too long ago on an episode of Penn & Teller’s Bullshit. Quite freaky.

If you go to the Cuddle Party website, they list all the media in which they’ve been featured. There’s no mention of the Bullshit episode, despite the fact that they were featured rather prominently there. Funny, that… ;)

Wierd. Penn and Teller (well, Penn anyway) says that they always show older episodes of the show to potential interviewees to let them know what they’re in for. This makes me really confused as to why anybody would actually appear on that show to defend their position knowing that they’d be portrayed in such an unflattering way. I think people probably have the idea that since they’re so right that the sheer force of their rightness will convert any non-believers, but I’m getting off topic. Those guys seemed more the kind to trumpet their prominancy on Bullshit rather than try to cover it up.

Blaster wrote:
On second thought, if a bunch of people want to get together and cuddle, good for them. Everyone wants to feel wanted.

I sort of agree. Some of the people on Bullshit said that being in a group where everybody just lay around and cuddled was really good for them, because touch is an important part of the human experience and they really needed to be in contact with people.

The problem is they have to pay for it. If people were just getting together to cuddle it would be no problem, but the hosts charge something like $40 for each session, which sounds suspiciously like prostitution to me. It’s basically taking advantage of lonely people for profit.

They don’t always cost money. The media events are free, but you have to be willing to be featured in whatever magazine or show press shows up for.

So I’ve been to two cuddle parties, both of which were silly and fun and satisfying. I was definitely the youngest one by a longshot (I actually lied about my age the first time because I wasn’t quite 18); most of the people there were middle-aged professional types, with a couple hippie goofballs.

There were two television crews from Sweden and one news team from Philadelphia. Somehow my mother saw the news the day they showed the cuddle party piece, so she called me up laughing at me in my spiderman pajamas and orange pigtails.

When I was about 18, 19, I’d regularly have parties that ended in what nowadays would be called a cuddle-party (the existence of which I only found out through Bernie making an aLp-comic about it). Although we didn’t have them, we’d generally adhere to the rules these cuddle-parties seem to have.

There’s nothing stopping you from going somewhere immediately afterwards with someone you met at the party to do whatever. I think the purpose IS to take the sex out of it. It would make it uncomfortable for the other people if there were 2 people grinding away.
There are real group orgy clubs if you wanted that. Just take a trip to canada [url]http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20051221/SCC_swingersruling_20051221/20051221?hub=CTVNewsAt11